I adore negative reviews and I cherish them with nearly all my heart. . .

(also go me for not blogging in like a… week? year? month? I think it’s been a week??)

I think that negative reviews get far too much hate. They seriously do.

Sometimes we all get a little “caried away” as some weird-non-ready-people saywhen we find that a book that we love and therefore feel the need to protect with every fibre of our being. *hands up* just putting it out there, don’t shoot the messenger.

So when we see a negative review? We. Have. To. Defend.

I’m the kind of person that’s like, “you know what, if you don’t like a book, then yeah it sucks, but each to their own.” Even though I joke about forcing people to read books that I love and treatening people to read them and threatening them to love them too… it is all a joke.*

However, because we’re a world FULL of extremes, people love to be extreme about everything now, including making sure that every person on the planet has something good to say about their favourite book/s. Obviously, I LOVE THE PASSION, but pls, ppl,** let’s just be lovely to eachother.

I think that bashing people for disliking a book is just… silly? PEOPLE CAN LIKE WHAT THEY LIKE AND HATE WHAT THEY HATE.

Negative Reviews – Importance On The Whole.

I think that they’re actually so USEFUL!! “whyyyyyy???” you scream. Let me explain.

This book may be really hyped, but actually a bit of a flop –> Super sad!! BUT it happens, and to be honest, if loads of people dislike it, it can make you second guess buying it, and maybe that’s not such a bad thing? If anything, they’re gonna save you money/time from buying/reading a book that you could also not like/hate/loathe/want to burn!! = MORE TIME TO READ THE BOOKS THAT YOU CAN LOVE AND SUPPORT BY SCREAMING ABOUT THEM CALMLY ON THE INTERNET.

You don’t get carried away with hype, basically –>Hype is fantastic. I love hype. BUT. I think that (personally) when I read loads of poitive reviews I get so excited, I read the book thinking “this is amazing this is amazing this is amazing this is faultless,” then I write a RAVE review… and then… like a week, or even a YEAR later… I just think “… what even happened in that book?? It was just a dry carcas of a novel with a bucket of topes thrown on… TIME TO CHANGE THAT RATING ON GR!!”

Your expectations aren’t up out of the atmosphere and shooting-off-to-space-high –>If you go into a book thinking “OMG THIS WILL BLOW MY MIND!!!” and then it doesn’t??? Then… well… what could have been a bit of a dissapointment if your expectations were just a little lower becomes a HUGE FREAKING LETDOWN AND YOU WILL KICK YOURSELF. (#SimonVs. (kind of))

And the most important in my opinion: It’s good to know why people don’t LOVE it too –>Not everyone is going to love a book because of everything in it. Some people will love it too, some will have a few quibbles, some will have a lot, and some will want to shove all copies of that book into a firey, exploding baby Vesuvius* and watch them all be destroyed. And personally, I think that it’s really important to know WHY, especaially because of problematic factors!! I don’t think that it’s good to be all “this book is fantastic, EVERYONE LOVES IT, THERE ARE NO FAULTS” about a book because honey, that’s delusional.

*a volcano that led to the deaths of… a lot of people.

What They Mean To Bloggers

bla bla bla we like books. But what happens when we don’t? What are we “meant” to say?

OUR OPINON. WE ARE MEANT TO SHARE OUR OPINION!!

Yet, we’re sometimes hesitant. WHY? Because others make us!!

This is meant to be a place where we get to shout our opions about books we read onto the internet, whether what we’re screaming is good OR bad. Why? Because it’s our right Everyone has the right to have am opinon, and scream it to the world, and the internet world should accept that opinion and RESPECT it, NOT condemn or SHAME the person for sharing it!!

Writing a rant review is also great!!

While I think that people should be respectful when writing a bad review, I don’t think that they should have to sugar coat what they think! I think that people shoud be able to honestly review a book, and not be scared about sharing their thoughts, BUT the internet is a scary place* and sure that’s scary becuase it’s like “ooooh most people don’t like this book ohhh it’s different” or “ ohhhh most people like this book but I want to watch every copy burn!!” but people shouldn’t be scared about writing a review that’s negative (or posititve!!) review about a book because of how others will react to it!!

Negative reviews show that people on the internet have a voice and they should not be shouted at for sharing their honest opinion!!

*full of dangerous book worms that will roast you alive if you dont like/dislike the same books as them apparently…

sooo.. . .

Do you write negative reviews? What was one of your favourite negative reviews to write? Do you read reviews of a book before or after you it? Do you share the same opinion as me? Let me know!

I love negative reviews too! I usually write mostly negative reviews whenever I write a review because I find it is way easier to express negative opinions in a review format. Whereas, I find it easier to talk about books I love or enjoy in pretty much any other format.

Nice post! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with negative reviews, everyone should be allowed to express their opinions, and not everyone is going to like the same books! So long as you don’t hate on people who did like it and you give reasons why you didn’t like it, then what’s the harm? We all need to respect each others’ opinions. I don’t get why people keep wanting to start all this drama when there’s really no point… *sigh*

One of the things that really put me down is seeing bloggers avoiding negative reivews because they’re scared og backlash or reaction from the authros. Is just bad. One things is being generally unrespectful, another is doing a calm critique of what you dind’t like. So why the fear? But I also get it, since the not so far away events.

But also, negative reivews, if well written, instead of the usual “I didn’t care for anyone” can put light on some sports that can be problematic and actually open a new view about some details that the majority of readers didn’t notice.
Sometimes others readers will be like “did we read the smae novel?” but still, not big deal. Right?

YES LEMME SHARE ALL THE SALT!!! Honestly I LOVE negative reviews and I don’t hold back! I mean I don’t believe in attacking the author or anything like that, I mean that’s horrible but If I wanna say “this book is trash” WHY CAN’T I!! And people be like “Oh yeah but thats offensive to the author” goodreads literally has a guidline stating authors shouldn’t read review of their books so GOODBYE!!! And I’m still not over that thing where a reviewer was threatened by an author because she had written a negative review!! WOW.

THANK YOU OMG THANK YOU RIIIGHT – time to binge read your blog again BC IM BEHIND
I love reading negative reviews. It’s true, I get very defensive about books I like but that’s a flaw for me and I need to STOPPPPP. People have legitimate things to say about books they don’t like and it’s so important to respect people’s opinions. FOR EXAMPLE, I know you didn’t like Simon Vs as much as you thought you would but that DOES NOT mean you have “no book taste” or can’t appreciate things. It just means you have a differing opinion and that is GOOD because it might teach others things they haven’t read about a book.
Now, hype. I love hype but sometimes it can be overwhelming. I LOVE reading underhyped books but I feel that sometimes a hype for a book can be overdone and that if I don’t like a book, I’m somehow a disappointment?? I know that doesn’t make sense. Often, I try not to get involved with the hype, such as with Simon Vs because I read it before the hype happened – shortly after it came out.
Thank you for this post. I think bloggers should express their opinions and shouldn’t be shut down, as criticism does not equal attack.

I definitely am all for negative reviews! For me, it’s about finding out what bloggers’ have the same taste as you and then if they hate a book: yOU KNOW IT’S NOT FOR YOU! Like I have some friends who’ve hated a book but then I’ve loooved it. So I don’t take negative reviews as like 100% gospel or anything.😂And wow do I get salty in mine sometimes lmao and I have very little regrets. However…my only thing with negative reviews is: I don’t believe they should attack the author, aaand I don’t believe they should be vicious? Like be salty and angry! But when I see people saying they wish the author was dead, or they wish every copy was burned, or just being really cruel like that…it makes me feel kinda ill. So I’m very anti-being that aggressive.

But otherwise, what’s the point of blogging if we can’t share our opinions?!

I’m so glad to see another blogger say something positive about negative reviews! I feel like so many of the book bloggers I used to follow would write about not doing negative reviews, which made me wonder why I should bother reading their blogs if I knew the reviews would always be positive. I think negative reviews make blogs more diverse to read, and it’s totally fine if we didn’t like a book! Sometimes a negative review can help me slim down my TBR list because I’ll read a review that points out flaws in a book that are things I know I won’t like, so they can definitely be very helpful!

I was on another blog today as well where this topic was mentioned but more in light of bloggers getting bashed because they write bad reviews? Like, what’s up with that? Can’t we even post what we want anymore on our blogs? Seriously..

I don’t mind bad reviews. I write negative reviews. I post them on my blog too. Why wouldn’t I? It’s my blog. As long as a negative review is still respectful, I don’t see any problem. In the end it’s you who wants to share your opinion on a book. If you didn’t like it, fine. Just tell us why without figuratively slamming a knife through the author’s heart.

I don’t remember what negative review I liked writing most. I don’t think I have a favorite? Although there was this one time when someone replied with “Okay, I get why you don’t like it but the “bad” things you mention are actually things I love in books, so I’m going to read this one!” That made my day. Week. Month. If a negative review can actually motivate someone in the best way to pick it up? GOALS.

I really love reading negative reviews. I want to know why books disappoint people – as a writer it helps me write better. As a reader, it helps me fine-tune my reading. Sometimes, I can blindly read and not see problematic or weird stuff. Negative reviews can be eye-opening and so helpful!

Yes!! That’s also a great point! Omg yes I’ve read a book, and completely glanced over something bc of the hype and then I would read a review and think “I SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS,” i go back and read it and… I don’t even know how I could have missed it!!

YESYEYSYEYSYS I misspelled yes there but in case you missed it, I AGREE WITH THIS SO MUCH. Negative and rant-filled reviews are very important??? Especially in the midst of highly praising reviews, because obviously not everyone is going to enjoy the same book? And they’re very useful to make sure that my expectations aren’t sky-high and then I just get DISAPPOINTED which is just a tragedy okay

I just find it SO STUPID when people shame others or get mad at them for not having the same opinion because it is everyone’s right to share their honest thoughts and getting backlash is just IJDiljijaljdijd WHYYYY. ALSO RANTS ARE A LOT OF FUN OKAY 😂

Basically you’re spot on as usual!! And this was a great post!! and um people shouldn’t be afraid to be black sheeps!! 😂

Great post Lu. 🙂 I don’t write too many negative reviews (I feel like I maybe have a gift for finding books I know I’m going to love you know?) but when i do I try and write my opinion so it’s backed up by what I read, I don’t want to make it seem like I hate the book for no reason and I’m very careful not to bash the author or the people who loved the book. Like you said we all have different opinions and something I hated someone else may love. 🙂
I kind of live in fear that one day someone is going to take offense at my opinion of a book. I see comments on Goodreads where people have pretty much attacked someone else because they haven’t liked a book they enjoyed and I just think ‘why?!’
I love reading negative reviews, in fact sometimes I enjoy reading negative reviews more than I do positive ones, even if it is for a book I love! 😀
Again great post. 🙂 ❤

Thank you so much Beth! Same actually, I hardly find books that I dislike!! Yessssss I find that I have to justify it all the time and urgh…. effort!! And I don’t want to be mean so it takes me such a long time to write it too!!

Honestly the fear is immense… but shouldn’t be there!! We shouldn’t have to be scared of saying our opinions!! I actually love them bc then I sort of see why a book isn’t perfect and why people wouldn’t like it!!

That’s all right! 🙂 Guess we’re just good at picking books to read then. Oh see I don’t mind being mean, sometimes I actually prefer rant reviews because there’s more to talk about.
There definitely shouldn’t be but it’s not like it’s unfound you know? You see people attacking other people for their opinions and it does make you nervous doesn’t it?
That’s all right! 😀 ❤

Great post Lu!
I actually quite enjoy writing and reading negative reviews, of course like you when I see someone trashing my favourite book I do get a little hurt xD
But everyone is entitled to there own opinion weather it’s them hating a book or loving a book and I ALWAYS respect other peoples opinions! 🙂
The hype thing I REALLY agree with, I’ve brought a lot of books because of the hype and 40% out of the time I’m let down majorly by them! 😦
I think the last negative review I wrote was Flawed by Cecelia Ahern and I had so much fun writing it xD

I was kinda nervous about writing a negative review about The Night Circus. But it was mostly because I was expecting something different from what the book offered. I didn’t mean to say it was bad, I liked the writing and all. It’s basically what you wrote about in #3. I thought it was going to be AMAZING but it didn’t deliver to my expectations and it eventually bore the hell out of me. I skimmed just to get to the good parts. 😬 Anyway, I definitely agree with #4. Sometimes I see eye to eye with other people when I compare my notes to theirs, what they like or don’t like about a certain title. Great post, btw! ❤

Ahhh noo that’s such a shame!! I totally hate when you get something unexpected.. but that unexpected is bad!! I’m trying to go into books with as little expectations as possible, but I find the longer they’re on my TBR the more hype I give that book, and therefore more possibilities for a let down!

Negative reviews are so awesome!!! They’re just as important as positive reviews and I don’t understand why people made such a fuss about the Zenith reviews recently… if so many seemed to dislike it, it might have actually been the book and not just people “pretending to hate it”.
Although I do get lowkey offended when someone hates on my favourite book and I tend to not wanna be friends with those people because WHY SHOULD I BE CONFRONTED WITH ALL THAT NEGATIVITY ALL THE TIME. But then again, everyone has their own opinions and that’s OKAY and I need to remember that more often hahaha. I remember when May wrote an entire rant review about Shatter Me and I got so mad at her until I took a step back, breathed, counted to 10, and realised that it’s alright XD

I write negative reviews. I’m never disrespectful to authors, but when a book has elements I didn’t enjoy or don’t agree with I want to voice those opinions. To be honest, I love to read a good rant review on a hyped book because most of the time, for me anyways, it isn’t worth the hype. Rant reviews have saved my wallet more than once, so I appreciate negative reviews. As long as they are done in a respectful manner I don’t see any issue with them.